The Body

Made into the acclaimed film Stand By Me, The Body is a mesmerizing tale of four young boys and their quest to find a dead body, never realizing how much death will affect their lives and their friendship.

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Publisher's Summary

Made into the acclaimed film Stand By Me, The Body is a mesmerizing tale of four young boys and their quest to find a dead body, never realizing how much death will affect their lives and their friendship.

Mr. King has written a lot of stuff that I just cannot read. But, if it's not a horror story, and if Frank Muller is reading it, you can count on a really good time. Mr. Muller remains the best narrator who ever lived, and he shows us the adolescent lives of Mr. King's characters with depth and humor. I have heard it said that Mr. King wrote for Mr. Muller's voice: if this is true, this book is a good example of why he did so. It's a little bit dated by now, and teenagers don't grow up quite so quaintly (at least, not here in California). Nonetheless, Mr. Muller is so convincing that the reader happily suspends disbelief and gets washed along with the boys. I can't imagine an audiobook lover not loving this book.

A great story read by a great narrator. I watched the film "Stand By Me" after listening to this and was quite amazed how much of the book made it into the film. The book has a bit of extra depth in its story though. At the moment I'm going through a lot of Stephen King's work on Audible. I decided to give this book 4 stars instead of 5 simply because I enjoyed a few of his other works more than this one. Yet, "The Body" is a fantastic audio book and worth listening to.

This is the first Stephen King book I've read or downloaded and I loved it. Saw the movie "Stand By Me" and discovered it was based on this book, so I found it here at audible and downloaded it. Now I'm searching for more Stephen King books.

watching and listening to some twelve-year-old boys. But the ending was a downer.

This novella was first published in the anthology “Different Seasons.” It is available individually as an audiobook, which is how I heard it. This review is solely for The Body, not the others in the anthology. The Body was also made into the movie “Stand By Me.”

This is a novella, but it didn’t feel like a short story. The characters were wonderfully developed. I was frequently smiling as I listened to these four twelve-year-old boys hanging out and taking a sixteen hour walk. This book is alive. You feel like you’re right there with them. I loved the dialogue. Things they liked they called “boss.” No one wanted to be a pu*** (wimp). They did stupid things. They did heroic things (that also were stupid). They were brave. They cried. They were loyal to each other. One of them was slow mentally. All of them came from troubled homes. Gordon’s parents weren’t physically abusive, but they were emotionally gone. Chris’ alcoholic father beat him frequently and severely. The abuse parts were not the main story, but it’s behind things. The best part was the kids’ friendship, interaction, and doing things together. Some events were a cheating grocery store owner, a junkyard dog and his owner, crossing a railroad trestle, swimming in a pond, and a pie eating contest.

The only reason I did not give this 5 stars was because the ending was depressing in two ways. Something bad happened to the boys at the end of their journey, although they survived. The second was Gordon ends up having a good life as an adult, but the other three don’t. What happened to one of them was depressing. I was walking around in a funk. I want to be entertained and feel good, which I was during most of the book, but the ending took me down. I was reminded of a comment in another S. King book “God doesn’t care.” But, I’m still glad I read it.

Note on stupidity. I frequently dislike characters doing stupid things for the sake of the plot - when the stupidity does not fit the character - for example an intelligent adult. That does not apply here. The kids’ stupidity fits them and is natural. And it’s funny.

CAUTION SPOILER:Chris was innately smart but frequently missed school, never applied himself, and was a poor student in grades 1 to 7. Starting in 8th grade, he decides to apply himself to go to college to have a life. His father continues beating him and is against it. The teachers don’t like him and resent his presence. He has a lot of catching up to do since he didn’t learn English and Math the way he should have during the first seven years of school. But he stays with it against all these odds, and he does it. He ends up going to college. What a heroic thing. I was proud of him. I wish the author would have stayed with that and given me a happy ending for Chris. Instead the author slams us with another of life’s unfortunate events - God doesn’t care.

I think I would have enjoyed this book a bit more if I had once been a 12-year old boy. Stephen King's obsession with bodily fluids (which I can generally tolerate in most other Stephen King books despite the fact that it is ever-present) was particularly noticeable in this book. Again - if I had once been a 12-year old boy, those references (and maybe even Stephen King's obsession with bodily fluids) would probably go unnoticed. Not one of my favorites by King.

I loved the characters! Well developed and characters every young man can relate to.

Who was the most memorable character of The Body and why?

Lard-ass!! definetly Lard-ass!!

Any additional comments?

This book is just like the movie "stand by me..." or better yet, the movie is just like the book. If you enjoyed the film, then you will like this. Obviously, the book provides more insight into the characters and their motivations end elaborates further on details from the film. Great story-- Stephen King at his best!

I really like the movie that is based upon this book. I just found that this book seemed to drag and I didn't even make it through the whole book. Part of that was the swearing. I found it distracting and almost like it was put in just for the sake of having swear words.

I didn't seem to connect with the characters (maybe because I am a woman). I really didn't care what happened with them.

I may try to listen to this another time. I just didn't enjoy it enough to delay listening to other books that I want to listen to.

All of the characters came to life thanks to the narration, and I listened to the book in its entirety thanks to that narration!

What does Frank Muller bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

Frank Muller is an excellent narrator! The variations in tone (subtle or not), and the levels made the book extremely enjoyable. Given that I've seen it on television, and it is always hard to capture the same magic with an audio book (from TV or reading a book yourself), having a good narrator is the key to buying almost any story! Given the amount of persons now listening to audible, and itunes etc... I hope to hear more from these narrators (such as Frank Muller and the man whom did 11-22-63; another Stephen King novel).

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Many moments in this novel moved me, I can't think of one in particular (except for the descriptive

Any additional comments?

Please allow Frank Muller or the man whom did 11--22-63 to narrate a version of

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